WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF YOUR OWN ANATOMY?

Inspired by female body shaming online, in videos and the media, Eleanor Beth Haswell at 18 years old, created an art collective titled ‘Why Are You So Afraid of Your Own Anatomy?’

Haswell says, “Throughout history we, as women, have fought to break loose from the preconceived image of how we should act in society in order to be our own person, with notions and beliefs that we’ve formulated ourselves.”

On Why Haswell Focused on Body Shaming:
“I decided to cover body shaming in two of my art projects, and hope to continue with the theme for my future work. Being in an environment where students around me are constantly shaming young girls for what they choose to do with their bodies is beyond me. We are living in the 21st century and women are still being pressured to remove all body hair to be deemed attractive. The media and society both have a huge impact on girls from a really early age, stressing that they must live up to these expectations and it should not be the case. It’s down to personal choice.

What Feminism Means to Her:
“Feminism to me is equality between all genders. Anyone can be a feminist, not just women like some people are lead to believe. For me, it is the overall belief that you shouldn’t be judged on what you do or what you wish to achieve by your gender, and is one of the most important things that we need in society.”

“I’ve always thought that the way women are viewed in society isn’t right, but it only really hit me around this time last year, when I started to focus on feminism for my college courses. We can look anywhere today and women are constantly being exploited and criticized online, in music videos, and even in the media. We can see articles about women in countries all over the world still being stoned to death for alleged adultery. There is constant victim blaming on women for dressing how they want to dress as they get branded with the ‘asking for it’ label. It’s appalling knowing that the ones who suffer are the ones who are blamed.”